In Robots and Minds, William Lycan tries to show that it is feasible that robots can have the same kind of mind that humans do, under the condition that machines are able to have consciousness just like humans. He further expounds this theory by introducing AI, claiming that researchers have already designed machines that can do human-functioning activities (such as reading books, playing chess, etc.) Lycan concludes that all of these actions are considered to be intelligent behavior in human standards.
However, Lycan perceives the word “intelligent” as too generalized, and goes to compose his own definition: where intelligence is the ability to provide responses and to be able to adapt to unexpected situations. Because humans possess these traits, we have intelligence, in contrast to machines (such as can-openers). The difference between humans and these machines are found further in his definition of “intelligence”, where intelligent creatures are information-sensitive creatures. Information-intelligent creatures are able to register, store, and use information. Lycan then proposes that based off of that definition of intelligence, computers can be considered as intelligent, as it too, does the same processing with information like we do. Yet, he back-tracks and says that though a computer may have intelligence by his definition, it …show more content…
He continues by saying that because Harry is an unpredictable machine, and unpredictableness is one of the core qualities of humans. If we agree with the original argument that Lycan proposed, then it is viable that Harry has his own mental processes without being influenced, therefore, Harry satisfies the definition of that free
However, Lycan perceives the word “intelligent” as too generalized, and goes to compose his own definition: where intelligence is the ability to provide responses and to be able to adapt to unexpected situations. Because humans possess these traits, we have intelligence, in contrast to machines (such as can-openers). The difference between humans and these machines are found further in his definition of “intelligence”, where intelligent creatures are information-sensitive creatures. Information-intelligent creatures are able to register, store, and use information. Lycan then proposes that based off of that definition of intelligence, computers can be considered as intelligent, as it too, does the same processing with information like we do. Yet, he back-tracks and says that though a computer may have intelligence by his definition, it …show more content…
He continues by saying that because Harry is an unpredictable machine, and unpredictableness is one of the core qualities of humans. If we agree with the original argument that Lycan proposed, then it is viable that Harry has his own mental processes without being influenced, therefore, Harry satisfies the definition of that free